Parker-Hannifin Hall

Parker-Hannifin Hall was once a mansion owned by George Howe, Cleveland businessman and Cleveland Police Commissioner. Parker Hannifin Hall is one of the last surviving Millionaires' Row mansions. It is a small reminder of a bygone time when ornate palaces stood on both sides of Euclid Avenue as far as the eye could see.

A few years after George Howe died in 1901, the Gage Gallery of Fine Arts made the house a beehive of activity in the fine arts world. George Gage served as the buying agent for many wealthy Clevelanders who later donated art works to the Cleveland Museum of Art. After Gage died, the Vixseboxse Art Gallery spent nearly half a century on the site before moving to Cleveland Heights.

The mansion was purchased by Cleveland State University in 1983 and restored with funds donated to the University by private individuals and area corporations. In 2005, the mansion was renamed Parker-Hannifin Hall in recognition of a large donation made to the University by the Parker-Hannifin Corporation. The building now serves as the home of the University's College of Graduate Studies and the Office of Research.

Images

Parker-Hannifin Hall

Parker-Hannifin Hall at 2300 Euclid Avenue is the former George Howe Mansion. Howe was a Cleveland businessman and later police commissioner who built this small mansion on the south side of Euclid Avenue in 1894. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the stretch of mansions on both sides of Euclid Avenue from East 9th Street to East 55 Street was known as Millionaire's Row. The mansions on the south side of Euclid Avenue were generally smaller and sat on smaller lots than those across the street on the north side of Euclid Avenue. View File Details Page

A Little Mansion

This excerpt from the 1898 Cleveland Atlas shows the location of the George Howe mansion three lots east of Trinity Cathedral. It sat almost directly across the street from a much larger mansion owned by Tom L. Johnson (and his wife Maggie). Johnson was a streetcar tycoon and later Cleveland's famous Progressive mayor from 1902-1909.
Image courtesy of Cleveland Public Library, Digital Map Collection View File Details Page

George W. Howe (1832-1901)

George Howe, a nephew of Elias Howe, who patented the first sewing machine in America, was a Cleveland business man and later police commissioner. He built the George Howe mansion in 1894. Howe was also one of Cleveland's earliest baseball fans. He championed bringing major league baseball to Cleveland and served as treasurer of Cleveland's first national league baseball team. View File Details Page

Millionaire's Row

From 1870 until 1920, Euclid Avenue was the grandest avenue in America and perhaps the world. This postcard from 1909 reveals a Euclid Avenue very different from the Euclid Avenue of today.
Image courtesy of Cleveland State University Library, Special Collections View File Details Page

Showing its Age

This 1965 photograph shows the George Howe Mansion when it was the home of the Vixseboxse Art Gallery. The mansion served as home to art galleries for much of the twentieth century.
Image courtesy of Cleveland State University Library, Special Collections View File Details Page

A Backyard View

This view from the rear yard parking lot of the Vixseboxse Gallery in 1965 provides a peak at the buildings on the south and north sides of Euclid Avenue in the 2300 block of Euclid Avenue. Later, extensive changes were made to this part of Euclid Avenue by Cleveland State University.
Image courtesy of Cleveland State University Library, Special Collections. View File Details Page

Now a garden spot

This recently taken photograph shows the changes to the side and rear yards of the George Howe mansion, now known as Parker-Hannifin Hall, since the property was acquired by Cleveland State University.
Image courtesy of Cleveland State University View File Details Page